


I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone

by dyylanqueenfanforever



Category: Queen (Band), The Beatles (Band)
Genre: Age, Confusion, Fear, Friendship, Memories, NewWorld, aharddaysnight, backtothefuture, idkwhatimdoing, liveattherainbow, meetings, relationship, timetravel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23934052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyylanqueenfanforever/pseuds/dyylanqueenfanforever
Summary: John Deacon has been playing bass in a band for 3 years. John likes to play his instrument, spend time with his friends and his girlfriend; but all that can change in a moment. One day, without remembering how he got there, he wakes up in a completely different place; or better said, in a completely different era. In his search for answers, he will find that he is not the only one disoriented by the situation, Ringo Starr is also there with a look from ten years ago. What's going on? Could this change the future?
Relationships: George Harrison & John Lennon & Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr, John Deacon & Brian May & Roger Taylor, John Deacon/Ringo Starr, John Deacon/Veronica Tetzlaff, Maureen Cox/Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

I open my eyes, not without effort, and think about the annoying alarm. There’s a bit of light that filters through the small cracks in my window. I feel a heavy pain in my head, like a big hangover. I can't remember exactly what happened the day before, I probably ended drunk somehow. Although my memory is not one hundred percent right now, I exactly know what day is today. Today is the day that we will play in The Rainbow and the boys and me are very excited; Bowie got quite a reputation there, who knows how it will go. I can confirm that a couple of years ago, I would have never believed that I’d be ending up in a band as a bass player by profession; I suppose life always has surprises in store for you. Well, it is still not entirely sure, we have lots of debts and financial problems but we are better than in the beginning.

I head to the closet, where I grab a T-shirt with the queen logo, white bell bottoms, and platform shoes that I like to wear. I leave my room, ready to grab something quick for breakfast and then meet up with my bandmates; Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Brian May. Surely, I will be the first to arrive but I have a great need to be punctual that makes me arrive always soon. Lately I have had a hooky melody in my head that I would only need to finish the lyrics. I smile and blush at the same time, thinking about what might be my first song.

For the first time that day, I look out the window. The sun seems to have recently risen and the sky shows a mesmerizing mix of colors that I would love to be able to photograph but now I don't have time. I spot a strange car-like gadget out of the corner of my eye but decide not to pay much attention to it.

I go down three by three the stairs of my apartment, almost colliding with a lady in her sixties in the last section.

'' Be more careful, '' she mumbles sulkily, pulling away from me as she stares at me. Her face changes quickly from anger to confusion and so I stare at her. There is something strange about that woman, although I would not know how to specify what. Finally, she shakes her head and disappears from my path making me wake up from my reverie.

Somewhat stunned and with the headache still unabated, I go outside to the street. Despite being March, I feel an overwhelming heat that is not typical of the season. It is a sunny day with the occasional dark cloud looming threatening yet still far away. What catches my attention is the flat in front of me, I would swear that one day ago that was not there and it is not posible to build an entire buildment that fast ... I continue my way getting more and more confused.

It is as if something was wrong ... There were different things, you could say that a different atmosphere could be breathed. People seemed to be walking distractedly, most of them looking at a strange and luminous gadget. Various sounds and people talking alone on the street and not only that ... the clothes that everyone wore were something out of the ordinary. Not that I followed fashion much, I prefered to wear the most comfortable and my clothes at concerts were mostly chosen by Freddie; but I wasn't that lost in the fashion world.

-Oi, do you like Queen? - A tall girl with long wavy hair that fell in a cascade of fire waves stopped me in the middle of the street.-I have been a fan since I was little.

Okay. That was weird, if she liked queen, why wouldn't she recognize me? I figured she would have paid more attention to Freddie or one of my other two bandmates, sometimes it happened; it wasn't that important.

-Well I guess-

Before I could finish what I was going to say, she made a small squeal of excitement and explained that she had never met any queen fan before besides his father. I smiled awkwardly at the situation in general and at the indecipherable glances I felt being received by a few people walking along that sidewalk. I felt strangely exposed, as recognized by more people and at the same time not; I looked at the alleged Queen fan who was still talking about us, I think. I glanced at my watch. In the end, I was going to manage to be late and I didn't want my friends to leave without me. Normally I wouldn't have minded having to walk more alone or taking a taxi, but the whole city seemed like a different place as its inhabitants, remote. Then, she said something that caught my attention and for a few seconds I forgot those concerns.

"What is your favorite concert by them?" She adjusted the sunglasses she was wearing, reminding me of Roger. "I would say mine is Rainbow's from '74, you know?" Although I am also fascinated by Montreal '81.

She knew about our concert but she spoke as if it had already happened and even about one that would happen in ... 7 years? A shiver ran through my entire body and I instinctively surrounded myself in a small hug. Everything looked very bad. Maybe I was being paranoid, it could be that I was still asleep. Unfortunately that could mean I would be late ... That would be better than this tho.

Without even making any excuses, I started walking again at a brisk pace, leaving the girl telling some story alone.

-By the way, I'm Tessa.-she shouted wrapping her hands around her mouth to increase the sound of her voice.

I was increasing the speed with each step until I ended up running as fast as my legs allowed me. I had never felt so alone in the world except for when my father had died.

I was cutting the distance, I hoped I would arrive to our meeting point soon. There would be the moment of truth. I could be going slightly mad and paranoid or literally having traveled back in time to what I assumed was the future or an alternate reality.

Too late I noticed a person on my way and bumped into whoever was, throwing all the newly bought food at the floor. I swallowed my remorse and kept running despite their protests. I caught a glimpse of two girls pointing at me as they whispered about something. Why did everyone suddenly seem to notice me?

Maybe the problem were my clothes. I decided to buy new ones to go unnoticed again, once I had joined the others. I felt the rapid beating of my heart and my tired breaths. I had never been the best athlete but I couldn't stop, at least not yet.

I turned to the right. I was almost there, I just needed to change the sidewalk. I got to see a person with his back to me with long blonde hair, Roger. With a hint of relief spreading across my chest but still not allowing me to finish savoring it, I crossed the street with the red light. That ended up causing chaos between the cars that braked and collided so as not to run over me. I looked back for a second without considering the consequences. I felt a stinging blow from a lunge run through my entire body and the next moment I was lying on the ground. I pursed my lips, stifling a cry of pain, and forced myself to sit up slowly at the complaints of each of my bones. Not only did my head hurt now but everything was spinning, my vision was turning black around the edges and there was nothing I could do. I had managed to get my shoulders into a 90 degree position to my hands but I couldn't hold myself and I hit the ground again. I could feel a stir around me, distorted voices asking me how was I doing and another saying that was calling an ambulance. I kept repeating like a mantra in my mind << hold on, you are almost there >>.

Suddenly, I remembered not having seen any phone booth during my journey and I could not contain a humorless laugh that came out in the form of a cough. I felt the metallic, bitter taste of blood in my mouth and spat it out in disgust. Maybe that way I would wake up and be able to really meet my friends. Because, this wasn't really happening, was it?

I felt how a heavy darkness drew me to itself and did not let me escape. The last thing I saw was that blonde guy turning around and look at me disoriented. It was true that he had similarities to Roger, but it was also clear that he was not the person I considered one of my best friends.


	2. An interesting meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John gets out of the hospital and starts to understand where, better said, when he is. Then he meets Ringo Starr, not his favourite Beatle nor his fav band but one of his idols and inspirations.

I opened my eyes, meeting several unknown faces of what looked like doctors. I rolled my eyes, wanting some privacy and some opportunity to escape from that place.

Looking back at the situation ... it seemed that this was not a dream. I shifted uncomfortably in that hard bed, as that people moved in and out of the room. It seemed, as I learned later, that it had not been so serious. The surprise and fear mixed with a strong blow that had left my body full of bruises. There also was a kind of stabbing pain, but bearable.

That same afternoon I was discharged. As I wandered around the familiar, yet unknown streets of London, I wondered what I was going to do now. This should only happen in movies or books; time was the human name that had been given to a concept. Time wasn't exactly a thing that existed, so you should not be able to travel in time; and less by accident.

I stopped at a bar for a drink as I couldn't remember when I had last eaten. Luckily, my wallet had come along with my apartment in that strange situation. While tasting my food, I saw a guy who looked strangely familiar.

Leaving the money with most of my food, I ran out of the establishment in search of that individual. It could be my only chance to get out of here ... maybe he knew something.

I crossed the street, cutting distance with the boy I was chasing. The strangest thing is that he did not have that current look but seemed to be the same age as me. This time I was sure it was that person and not like the supposed Roger Taylor case. I had seen his unmistakable face and unless I was going crazy it was Ringo Starr (by '64 or so).

Not that I was as much of a Beatles fan as my bandmates, but they were a huge inspiration to me in many ways. I had always wanted to meet one, even if it wasn't in this ... outlandish situation.

I looked both ways down the street but I had lost him. I dropped to the ground leaning against a wall and buried my head in my hands. <<Why did I have that much luck? Why have I ended here in the first place?>>

"This is not happening," I muttered, wondering why among the whole world was I in whatever that place was.

'' Were you following me? '' I shuddered surprised and met with a pair of two big ocean eyes. That accent ... I had never spoken to him in person but it was indisputable, I had RiNgO StArR up front. 

I had all kinds of questions to ask him, a lot of musically ones and so about his person but I didn't want to create more possible paradoxes in that crazy situation. Not knowing what to choose, I stared at him.

The atmosphere became somewhat uncomfortable and I noticed him tense at the peculiar silence. I cleared my throat and forced myself to say something, the first thing that crossed my mind.

'' Can I call you Rings? '' Great start.

He laughed amused and nodded.

"Wait a minute," he added quickly. "Who are you? Xd"

I sat up, feeling the pain of my recent wounds; I had almost forgotten they were there. Sure, Queen hadn't formed yet, and even if it had, he might not have heard from us. Yet.

"John Richard Deacon borned August 1951," I replied, shaking his hand. That was epiCCCC. Yeah, it was true I wasn't as much of a Beatles fan as my bandmates, they weren't even my favorite band; What's more, Ringo was not the one I liked the most, but everything was incredible.''My pleasure.''

"How? 51? That can't be..." He frowned. I could almost feel imaginary gears moving in his mind trying processing the information.

I remembered that I hadn't seen my amp, the Deacy Amp, since before I woke up here. I supposed that technology had avanced a lot in all these years. Upon leaving the hospital, I had seen the current date, April 1, 2019; in 45 years who knows what would have happened. Those strange gadgets that had everyone absent looking and them. God knows, maybe there also were time machines. 

"What year do you think we are?" I asked him to try to find out how much he knew about whatever was going on. Or else, what year was he coming from.

"1964?" He replied with a grimace of confusion. From his tone it seemed more like a question than an affirmation. I smiles, my calculations had been correct about the year.

"This is all very weird," I murmured to myself. I figured he still didn't understand that for some reason we were 45 years into the future; well, concretely he was 55.

''You're weird''

He seemed to have listened to me. Anyway, more than scared or confused he seemed amused. He was wearing his characteristic smile and a sparkle of curiosity shone in his blue eyes.

'' Normality is a very relative concept, in my opinion it doesn't exist '' I shrugged, it was what I thought after all, we are all different; even when someone or something is imitated to supposedly be normal we are different. "The same as the time ... So I don't understand how we got here," I added, glancing at the few people who were still walking through the unknown streets.

I saw him scowl out of the corner of his eye, quickly replacing that gesture with one of confusion and finally starting to understand the situation.

''Woah, Richard, gear!. How true! '' He exclaimed with a broad smile. ''Now everything makes sense. Follow me! From what you tell me, I suppose we are in the same situation ... And because you also dress differently from ... '' he pointed to all directions not knowing how to refer to the people who walked next to us.

I laughed softly as we started walking towards the night.

'' They are people too, '' I explained, and before he could answer me I went on.''I would prefer you called me John. Richard has always sounded weird to me... and more now.''After a few seconds of silence I eyed him, searching for a rection.

He shrugged, muttering something that John only reminded him of Lennon.Then, he began to tell me a story of something from a cookie, George Harrison and a lemon.

It was all so surreal; meeting a Beatle and in that crazy situation, being both lost in time. It seemed strange to me that Ringo decided to just trust me while I could have been anyone who likes the fashion from another eras (future or past depending on the point of view). Instead, he had decided to believe me without even knowing me. Maybe it was that he felt terribly lost and he decided to give me a chance. Whatever the reason was, I felt calmer not to be alone in this.

I knew it was him because I knew him from a lot of pictures of the Beaatles and I was sure that nobody could imitate a Ringo from the 60s so well. Unless there were some doubles of him as Paul's one ...

'' Hey, Rings '' I called him getting something like an <<ummm>> in response. We were getting deeper and deeper into an unfamiliar neighborhood for me, a direction I had never been in for any space-time. '' When did William Campbell show up? I never remember the year.''

He gave me an indecipherable look so I concluded that all of this must have happened after 1964. I decided to change the subject by asking him what he was doing before waking up here.

'' Breathe, '' he said, trying to lighten the mood. A cold wind had risen with dusk and continuing to penetrate that dark neighborhood, got me all tensed up in fear.

I looked at him without a hint of amusement, trying to convey with my eyes that this was serious.

"I was sleeping," he ended saying. Seeming to be struggling to remember something else, I softened my gaze. I was also having trouble remembering more details of that time that for me had been the previous day but that that space was screaming << 45 years ago >>. '' I think we were going to do a concert or something. John and Paul began to compose something and George- '' Ringo fixed his gaze on a colored target stuck against the wall of the street we had just entered. He shook his head and remembered the phrase he had left hanging in the air `` Yes, George. He went for food. He didn't come back so I fell asleep while thinking about nothing and everything at the same time. ''

He approached the target, watching it curiously. I looked both ways, getting the image of a totally empty street with a creepy atmosphere. I decided to follow Ringo, not wanting to spend another moment alone at there.

''Look at this, Richard. Thats weird...''

At the end of that same street I spotted a person who I had not seen beforehand. It looked as appeared of nowhere. The nowhere person was hooded and I was too far away from them to see their face, but I did see how they pulled an arrow from behind them.

"RiNGo, move away!" I screeched, watching as the arrow shot out of the bow in his direction. I ran to Ringo's side hearing the arrow cut off the air that would soon be around us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I continue the story? Idk if just doing it in spanish, I think I'm having many mistakes hahha. However I hope you have liked it and please tell me ur opinion in the comments. Prob will update this:) see ya <3


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